Applications for investment promotion from January to September soared by 94% in value year-on-year to a combined 1.37 trillion baht, the highest level on record, says the Board of Investment (BoI).
The increase was mostly driven by large foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in target sectors, including digital and manufacturing of smart electronics components and devices, said BoI secretary-general Narit Therdsteerasukdi.
In the first nine months of 2025, the number of applications for investment promotion increased by 23% to 2,622 projects, up from 2,137 projects year-on-year.
Please credit and share this article with others using this link: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/investment/3128522/investment-pledges-soar-94-in-first-9-months. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. © Bangkok Post PCL. All rights reserved.
The total value of FDI projects in all sectors amounted to 985 billion baht, representing 72% of the total value of applications. The value of FDI pledges increased by 82% year-on-year.
“The value of investment applications we received in the first nine months is already 22% higher than that of applications for the whole of 2024,” said Mr Narit.
A total of 119 projects were filed in the digital sector, mostly for data centres, for a combined investment value of 613 billion baht, while the electrical appliances and electronics (E&E) sector recorded 382 project applications representing total investment of 184 billion baht.
Applications for large investments in data centre businesses this year include a pledge of 72.7 billion baht by Beijing Haoyang Cloud Data Technology’s Hong Kong unit, a vow of 52.6 billion baht by UK-based Zenith Data Center and Cloud Services, and an estimate of 38 billion baht by Singapore-based Galaxy Peak Data Center.
In the E&E sector, a unit of China’s Sunwoda Automotive Energy Technology in high-density battery manufacturing from the cell level pledged 50.5 billion baht, while Singapore-based Peng Shen Technology vowed 15.8 billion baht for high-density interconnected printed circuit board manufacturing. US-based Fabrinet promised 4.6 billion baht for optical fibre manufacturing.
The automotive and auto parts sector came in third among target sectors, attracting 229 applications, worth a combined 71 billion baht.
The agriculture and food processing sector attracted 228 applications representing 47.2 billion baht in investment value.
According to the BoI, Singapore was the top source of FDI applications in terms of value with 360 billion baht, followed by Hong Kong (237 billion), China (143 billion), the UK (100 billion) and Japan (73.8 billion).
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/3125590/data-seen-as-key-to-thailands-ai-transformation
